21-letter words containing p, o, s, l
- stop loss reinsurance — Stop loss reinsurance is a form of reinsurance under which the reinsurer pays the cedant's losses in any year over a particular percentage of the earned premium.
- structural psychology — psychology centering on the analysis of the structure or content of conscious mental states by introspective methods.
- subjective complement — subject complement.
- subliminal perception — perception of or reaction to a stimulus that occurs without awareness or consciousness
- supergranulation cell — one of a number of large convection cells in the photosphere and chromosphere of the sun, each having a diameter of 10,000–20,000 miles (16,000–32,000 km) and lasting longer than a day.
- supply-side economics — a school of economic thought that emphasizes the importance to a strong economy of policies that remove impediments to supply
- terrestrial telescope — a refracting telescope having inverting lenses or an eyepiece that presents an erect image.
- the antipodes islands — a group of small uninhabited islands in the South Pacific, southeast of and belonging to New Zealand. Area: 62 sq km (24 sq miles)
- the central provinces — the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec
- the oldest profession — prostitution
- the slough of despond — a state of extreme despondency, depression or degradation
- theoretical physicist — a scientist who studies theoretical physics
- thermal decomposition — Thermal decomposition is the process in which a chemical species breaks down when its temperature is increased.
- thermal power station — a power station in which heat is converted into electricity
- threshold wage policy — a policy whereby wages are increased in accordance with inflation
- to be a hospital case — if you say that someone or something is a hospital case, you mean that they need urgent help because they are doing very badly
- to blow sth wide open — to expose something
- to move the goalposts — If you accuse someone of moving the goalposts, you mean that they have changed the rules in a situation or an activity, in order to gain an advantage for themselves and to make things difficult for other people.
- to play second fiddle — If you play second fiddle to someone, your position is less important than theirs in something that you are doing together.
- to pull someone's leg — If you are pulling someone's leg, you are teasing them by telling them something shocking or worrying as a joke.
- to pull your socks up — If you tell someone to pull their socks up, you mean that they should start working or studying harder, because they have been lazy or careless.
- topgallant forecastle — a partial weather deck on top of a forecastle superstructure; forecastle deck.
- traveling salesperson — a representative of a business firm who travels in an assigned territory soliciting orders for a company's services.
- triple superphosphate — superphosphate (def 2).
- triple-superphosphate — Also called acid phosphate. a mixture of calcium acid phosphate and calcium sulfate prepared by treating phosphate rock with sulfuric acid: used chiefly as a fertilizer.
- ulster unionist party — a Northern Irish political party advocating the maintenance of union with the UK
- up close and personal — face to face, intimately
- up to the elbows with — busily occupied with; deeply immersed in
- wet collodion process — a photographic process, in common use in the mid-19th century, employing a glass photographic plate coated with iodized collodion and dipped in a silver nitrate solution immediately before use.
- wholesale price index — an indicator of price changes in the wholesale market
- wilson's storm petrel — a small petrel, Oceanites oceanicus, that breeds in the Southern Hemisphere but ranges into the North Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
- with sb's compliments — If you say that you are giving someone something with your compliments, you are saying in a polite and fairly formal way that you are giving it to them, especially as a gift or a favour.
- x-ray crystallography — the determination of the structure of a crystal by the use of x-ray diffraction.
- yellow lady's-slipper — a showy orchid, Cypripedium calceolus, of eastern North America, having purple-tinged yellow flowers with an inflated lip petal.